11/05/2005 | News
The EU and the Council of Europe “should work together where their goals are identical” said European Education and Culture Commissioner Ján Figel today, speaking during an exchange of views with PACE’s Culture Committee. “We are moving in the same space, now it is important that we move in the same direction,” he said, raising the possibility of “joint reports” in complementary areas. He also pointed out that education and culture were permanent components of the EU’s near neighbourhood policy – affecting some non-EU members of the Council of Europe – and offered the Commission’s assistance for concrete joint projects which did not duplicate existing ones.
10/05/2005 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
PACE's Culture Committee will hold an exchange of views with EU Education and Culture Commissioner Ján Figel and meets a delegation from its sister committee in the European Parliament during its meeting in Strasbourg on 11 May. It is also due to approve a report by Josef Jařab (Czech Republic, LDR) on Media and Terrorism.
04/05/2005 | News
During his official visit to Rome on 3 and 4 May, PACE President René van der Linden discussed the preparations for the Council of Europe Summit of Heads of State and Government in Warsaw on 16 and 17 May, in particular relations between the Council of Europe and the EU. The President's interlocutors agreed that the EU should make use of the Council of Europe's mechanisms and experience. René van der Linden expressed concern about certain initiatives of the EU Commission, such as the Human Rights Agency which could lead to double standards and new dividing lines at the expense of the tax-payer. René van der Linden, accompanied by Claudio Azzolini, leader of the Italian parliamentary delegation to the Council of Europe, met the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Pier Ferdinando Casini, the Foreign Minister, Gianfranco Fini, the Minister for the Cultural Heritage, Rocco Buttiglione, the Deputy Speaker of the Senate, Lamberto Dini, the Chair of the Senate Committee on EU Policy, Mario Greco, the Chair of the Senate's Foreign Affairs Committee, Fiorello Provera, and the Chancellor of the Gregorian University, Father Ghirlanda.
04/05/2005 | President
During his official visit to Rome on 3 and 4 May, PACE President René van der Linden discussed the preparations for the Council of Europe Summit of Heads of State and Government in Warsaw on 16 and 17 May, in particular relations between the Council of Europe and the EU. The President's interlocutors agreed that the EU should make use of the Council of Europe's mechanisms and experience. René van der Linden expressed concern about certain initiatives of the EU Commission, such as the Human Rights Agency which could lead to double standards and new dividing lines at the expense of the tax-payer. René van der Linden, accompanied by Claudio Azzolini, leader of the Italian parliamentary delegation to the Council of Europe, met the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Pier Ferdinando Casini, the Foreign Minister, Gianfranco Fini, the Minister for Cultural Heritage, Rocco Buttiglione, the Deputy Speaker of the Senate, Lamberto Dini, the Chair of the Senate Committee on EU Policy, Mario Greco, the Chair of the Senate's Foreign Affairs Committee, Fiorello Provera, and the Chancellor of the Gregorian University, Father Ghirlanda.
03/05/2005 | President
"It is often said that the freedom of the media – and freedom of expression in general – are the oxygen of democracy. If that is true, democracy in some parts of Europe continues to have respiratory difficulties. These range from an occasional lack of breath in some countries to persistent near-suffocation in others," PACE President René van der Linden said today on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day. He called on all Council of Europe states to refrain from adopting unnecessary restrictions on the free flow of information under cover of the fight against terrorism and to respect Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. "Security-motivated censorship will only serve the cause of the terrorists," he said.
02/05/2005 | President
The future of Europe and new strategies for addressing the serious problems threatening the continent are the main themes of the political talks that the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Dutchman René van der Linden, is to have during his official visit to Italy's institutions and government on Tuesday 3 and Wednesday 4 May. Van der Linden, accompanied by Claudio Azzolini, leader of the Italian parliamentary delegation to the Council of Europe, will meet the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Pier Ferdinando Casini, the Foreign Minister, Gianfranco Fini, the Minister for the Cultural Heritage, Rocco Bottiglione, the Deputy Speaker of the Senate, Lamberto Dini, the Chair of the Senate Committee on EU Policy, Mario Greco, the Chair of the Senate's Foreign Affairs Committee, Fiorello Provera, and the Chancellor of the Gregorian University, Father Ghirlanda.
29/04/2005 | News
referendums can be a means to reinforce the democratic legitimacy of political decisions. In fact, the national referendums organised in the context of the ratification of the European Union Constitutional Treaty may be the greatest European popular vote of all times. The Assembly today called on European governments to codifying rules on the holding of referendums and promote models of good practice, to ensure that referendums are used as a supplement to representative democracy and avoid any manipulation.
29/04/2005 | Session
While welcoming the strengthening of Community and international legislation concerning marine pollution, the Assembly today raised the alarm about some major malfunctions in the application of some of the recommended measures at both European and international level. The parliamentarians called on member states inter alia to adopt the necessary measures to receive ships in distress in their territorial waters, to improve the training of seafarers, to come to an agreement within the International Maritime Organisation in order to extend the possibilities of engaging the civil liability of the ship-owner, the charterer, the classification society or the flag state in the event of ship-based pollution, as well as to work towards setting up an international maritime criminal court.
29/04/2005 | News
“Aleksander Lukashenko is afraid of Europe. European flags are torn from people’s hands when they demonstrate in Belarus, but people are no longer afraid,” said Pavel Marinich, the son of Mikahail Marinich, Belarus opposition leader and political prisoner, in his statement to the PACE Sub-Committee on Belarus this morning. He was pleased that Europe “calls a spade a spade” and defines the Belarus regime as a dictatorship. “The people of my country need practical action and useful sanctions. Denying visas to judges and law enforcement representatives would be a good example. All measures to exert pressure on the regime are welcome,” he added. Ambassador Jean-Claude Joseph, Chair of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers’ Rapporteur Group on Democratic Stability, called for measures in support of civil society in Belarus to be kept up and reinforced. The sub-committee’s rapporteur on the situation in Belarus, Azim Mollazade (Azerbaijan, LDR), wants closer contacts with other international organisations so that they keep a common line of action towards the regime.
29/04/2005 | News
Today PACE Bureau unanimously agreed to the proposal by Claudio Azzolini (EPP-CD), Vice-President of the Assembly and Head of the Italian Delegation, to invite Pope Benedict XVI to Strasbourg for a forthcoming plenary session. Mr Azzolini told the Bureau that he had attended the Pope’s inaugural mass in St Peter’s Basilica on Sunday 24 April on behalf of the President of the Assembly, René van der Linden, and that he had later met the Pope, who had expressed the greatest respect for the importance of the Council of Europe.
28/04/2005 | News
Speaking on the occasion of the NGO study day on education and religion, PACE President René van der Linden stressed that politics and religion should be kept apart. “However, democracy and religion need not be incompatible and can be valid partners. By tackling societal problems, the authorities can remove many of the causes of religious extremism. Education is the key way to combat ignorance, stereotypes and misunderstanding of religions,” he added. René van der Linden also stressed that PACE felt that governments should also do more to guarantee freedom of conscience and religious expression, to develop education about religions, to encourage dialogue with and between religions and to promote the cultural and social expression of religions. “Given the many possible prejudices and stereotypes regarding religions, it is important to have structured, rational instruction in schools. That would help combat fanaticism, fundamentalism and xenophobia more effectively,” he concluded.
28/04/2005 | News
Denouncing the murder or kidnapping of journalists in conflict zones as “an act of aggression against freedom of expression and information”, PACE today demanded the immediate release of French journalist Florence Aubenas and her assistant Hussein Hanoun al-Saadi, as well as three Romanian journalists held in Iraq, Sorin Dumitru Miscoci, Marie-Jeanne Ion and Eduard Ovidiu Ohanesian. Adopting a resolution following an urgent debate in Strasbourg, PACE also proposed that journalists working in conflict areas declare publicly in advance that no financial payments or political concessions should be made to kidnappers if they are abducted.